The latest unemployment numbers were released and the country is currently facing the highest rate of joblessness in 26 years. The recession in the early eighties was accelerated by monetary policy moves out of the Fed to quell inflation. So, this time around is different because the loss of jobs is the cyclical response to a lack of consumption. Meanwhile, government data for January was revised to show monthly job losses of 741,000 — more layoffs for a month than at any time since October 1949. The decline in nonfarm payrolls in February was not revised, remaining at 651,000.
Manufacturing was hardest hit in the new report, with the sector losing 161,000 jobs in March. Construction industries lost 126,000 jobs, and the service sector axed 358,000 positions. The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a new record low, indicating that many companies are reducing workers' hours. The deterioration in the jobs market comes despite a few hopeful signs recently that the recession — now the longest since World War II — could be easing.
Click on the title above to view an interactive map of the distribution of unemployment across the country.
This is incredible, and obviously not in a good way. I clicked on the link to the map and searched through various cities and I cannot believe that in Palm Beach County has an unemployment rate of 9.1 %. My family and I have personally been affected by job loss, my dad the only main source of income was laid off work around October of last year. It took him about 4 months to find a decent job, every day he filled out mulitple applications in hope to find some form of work.Also from many stories I have learned that the construction field ( in which my dad works) not only including builders, but contractors, electricianers, plumbers etc. all have been drastically affected by the bad economy; almost as much as the auto industry ( but dont quote me on that) It is hard to deal with job loss within a family, so I can only imagine that theres millions of teens that are going through the same thing as I am with their families. Life is tough now, but one must be persistent when it comes to job searching because there is jobs out there, just maybe not the one you want.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia and Michigan seem to be two of the hardest hit sates when it comes to unemployment. I think that the construction field is being affected most by the fact that we are no longer in the period of the early 2000s when the housing boom hit and they couldn't build houses fast enough and even ran out of supplise and had to import it. In the trouble that our economy is now I think that people have to be open to a different career field if they have hopes of turning unemployment around to a lower percentage.
ReplyDeleteLauren Osterfeld
Fortunately, I have a job, and as much as I sometimes dread going to work, I constantly remind myself how lucky I am to actually have a job in this economy. Reading these facts and viewing that awsome map (which i really think is a huge eye opener to the rest of the country not just to our little county) really really makes me feel priveleged that I have some source of income right now. It was so shocking to see how high the unemployment rate is in some places. I know President Obama is working hard, and I'm going to do what every American should and just have faith that we will come out of this recession as soon as possible and get people back on their feet again. I also hope this recession was a life lesson to those who used to take things for granted and sit comfortably whereever they stood in society because in a matter of days your whole life could be turned around and unfortunately I think people are starting to see that. But the best life lessons are learned from our mistakes right?
ReplyDelete-sydney
Yeah, its not really surprising that areas which experienced housing booms have high unemployment. People just started to spend less once there house went down in value. I think the solution is just to print a lot of money to Americans and then just to somehow stop inflation.
ReplyDeleteWith housing market still loaded with uncertainty the jobs lost in construction are no surprise, people are worried about selling their houses and not building another, this news is disheartening, but not really surprising
ReplyDeleteThis article really has opened my eyes to the severity of unemployment. Seeing that I don't really personally know anyone that has been let go because of the economy. Fortunately I have a job and my parents aren't affected either. I've been really lucky. However reading this article it's really showed me how many people are struggling to support their family in a situation like this, especially since we're not sure when and where the economy is going to be on the rise. And there is no simple solution on how to fix the economy. On one side we can keep throwing money at it, but what about the debt that will be passed to future generations that don't have a choice but to inherit it or when there is too much money in circulation when the economy is back on its feet. In my opinion, it's hard to look at the current situation with optimism when every decision has negative outcome. I guess all we can do is wait and see; hopefully it'll be okay. (Also to add, I really think its unfair that my generation and future generation has to inherit the problems of our elders have given us)
ReplyDeleteNik Plotnicoff
ReplyDeleteThis just shows that the American Economy is doing really bad and has to have a fast solution. i think that we should ust destory all the houses and even it out or find a way to fix it fast before it gets even worse. i dont know how the future will be but i hope it improves buecause things are looking gloomier every month